


Call You Derek

by JoMouse



Series: Imagine Sterek Events [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Discount Chocolate Day, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:28:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22747090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: Stiles carries on the tradition his mom started for Discount Chocolate Day and runs into someone else who has the same one.Day 6 ofImagine-Sterek'sValentine's Day Event. Theme: Free Space.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Imagine Sterek Events [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586374
Comments: 22
Kudos: 261





	Call You Derek

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings and Salutations!
> 
> Valentine's Day is over and so is this second event that I've participated in. Now I think I might just sleep for a week.
> 
> This is unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.
> 
> xx-Joey

Stiles entered the store, smiling as he grabbed a basket and headed toward the back of the store where the seasonal goods were kept. Today was his favorite day of the year, the day he could stock up on candy for great prices: Discount Chocolate Day!

It was a tradition he’d started with his mom although he can’t remember when they first did it because he only had memories of every February 15th, his mom waking him up with the sun, taking him to the diner for breakfast and then arriving at the store just as the doors opened. After she’d passed away, he’d missed a few years but then he’d seen the day get an actual title someone online and he got lost in memories. The very next Discount Chocolate Day, he woke up early and headed to the diner. 

Once he’d graduated from high school and went away to college, the diner and the store changed, but the tradition didn’t. Now, that year, he was in a new city, a new apartment, working at a grown-up job and missing home, but he’d spent the night before researching diners and stores in the area so he could hold onto the tradition.

Arriving at the back of the store, he grinned at the fifty percent off signs and started his first perusal of the shelves, looking for the stand-by favorites. He grabbed two bags of Brach’s Conversation Hearts, mourning the Sweetheart’s brand that had been his mom’s favorites, but found these were still good in their own right and he liked to laugh at the sayings, even if they were getting too modern for his tastes sometimes.

He dropped them into his basket and continued down the row. He was distracted by the Lindor Strawberry & Cream Truffles, not paying attention to where he was going and ran into a wall, losing his balance and dropping his basket. He would’ve hit the floor if someone hadn’t reached out and grabbed him by the arm, steadying him on his feet.

Stiles looked up to discover he hadn’t run into a wall of concrete and metal, but a wall of pure muscle attached to a face sculpted by God himself. “Sorry, dude,” he said, reaching down to grab his basket. “Was lost in my own head.”

“You live in the building over on third, don’t you? Hamilton Towers?” the man asked. Stiles looked up again, narrowing his eyes before nodding. “I thought I saw you at the mailboxes. I’m Derek. Fifth floor.” He held his hand out and Stiles took it, shaking and smiling.

“Stiles and me, too,” he said. “501.”

“525,” Derek responded. “Must be why I’ve never seen you on the floor.”

“Yeah,” Stiles responded, rubbing his hand over the top of his head and looking around, his eyes falling on Derek’s basket. “Taking advantage of the discount candy deals?”

Derek hesitated. “My parents used to make a big deal out of Discount Chocolate Day.”

Stiles heard a familiar wistful tone in his voice and swallowed hard before speaking. “Used to?”

“They...they’re gone,” Derek said, looking down at his feet. 

Stiles reached out and rubbed a hand over Derek’s bicep. “Today used to be my mom’s favorite too,” he whispered and Derek pursed his lips in a frown before nodding. “Breakfast at a diner and then candy. Very specific plans. Grab the favorites first while checking out the other things. Then a sweep of what has the least amount left because it has to be popular for a reason.”

“Then one or two new things, just to try,” Derek said, laughing. “It’s like your mom knew my parents.”

“Had they ever been to Beacon Hills?” Stiles joked and Derek froze. “What?”

“I grew up in Beacon Hills,” he said. “Until...until…” 

“Derek,” Stiles whispered. “Derek Hale?” He nodded and Stiles hand went from rubbing to gripping his bicep. He struggled for words to express how he was feeling as he thought about the tragic fire that had killed all of Derek’s family when Stiles was still in middle school. “My dad was a deputy then, he’s sheriff now.”

“Stilinski?” Derek asked, his lips quirking. “Your name is Stiles Stilinski?” 

“Hey! My real name is unpronounceable, even by me so stick to Stiles.” They both chuckled, the seriousness of the moment broken. “So what step are you on?” 

“Just finished looking for the least amount left,” Derek said. “Was just starting to look for something new in this aisle.”

“Okay, freeze. Wait here until I catch up,” Stiles said, hurrying through the next two parts of the plan before falling into step next to Derek. “Okay, time for something new.” He grabbed the Lindor truffles and Derek shrugged, grabbing a bag for himself.

They each picked up a package of spicy chocolate drops and Stiles grabbed a plastic container full of sugar cookies. They were heading towards the registers when Derek stopped by a shelf, eyes going over the stuffed animals on them, reaching out and plucking a black wolf with a red heart in his mouth and hugging it to his chest for a second before putting it in the basket. 

“Don’t judge me,” Derek said and Stiles smiled. “My mom always bought one and then gave it away.”

Stiles tilted his head and looked at the shelves, grabbing a fox with a heart-shaped nose and mimicking Derek’s cuddle to the chest before putting him in the basket, already thinking about who to give the toy to. He shared a grin with Derek as they continued to the cashiers.

Once they were through and standing outside, Stiles found he didn’t want to say goodbye to Derek. It might be silly, but he was homesick and although he hadn’t known Derek when he lived in Beacon Hills, he was still a reminder of home. He tried to think of something to say when Derek smiled at him. “My dad used to take us to the movies after we bought the candy, sneak some in. Did you want to join me?”

Stiles grinned and nodded. “I’d like that.” He held up the two bags he was carrying. “What do we do with this?”

Derek pulled keys out of his pocket. “We can leave them in the car.”

After the movies, Stiles and Derek headed to a pizzeria for dinner, talking about the movie and reminiscing about Beacon Hills. They discovered they had a few mutual friends and a couple of them, Erica Reyes and Vernon Boyd, were coming to visit Derek soon and Stiles made plans to have dinner with them while they were in town. The drive back to the apartments was quiet as Stiles’ energy levels were dropping.

Derek stopped for gas and while he was pumping the gas, Stiles picked up the bags at his feet and pulled the stuffed fox out of the bag and reached into the back to put it in one of Derek’s bags, smiling to himself. “Thanks, mom,” he whispered, knowing that somehow she was looking down on him and had something to do with him running into Derek that day.

He had just turned back around in his seat when Derek climbed back into the car. “Ready?”

They stopped at their mailboxes, grabbing mail and Derek laughed when Stiles opened a red envelope from his friends Scott and Allison and confetti and glitter fell out, covering the front of his shirt. Stiles glared at Derek before taking the envelope and dumping the rest of the contents all over Derek’s head, pointing and laughing when a red foil cupid got stuck in Derek’s stubble.

They rode the elevator, exchanging numbers and making plans to get together in the future and Derek walked Stiles to his door. “Do you want to come in? Have some coffee?”

Derek nodded and followed him in, sitting on one of the barstools at the counter in the kitchen while Stiles made coffee. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and raised an eyebrow and Derek nodded, so he poured it into two mugs. He got the cookies out of the bags and set them on the counter while the coffee finished brewing.

Stiles excused himself to the bathroom, scrubbing over his face and laughing at the glitter caught in his hair. He brushed it quickly but seemed to make it worse before he left the bathroom to find Derek pulling his jacket on by the door. “Was it something I said?”

“Emergency at work. Raincheck on the coffee?” Derek asked, his eyes wide and frown deep. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Stiles said, waving his phone. “I’ve got your number.” He moved to pull the door open, holding it while Derek zipped his jacket.

Derek picked his bags up from next to the door and turned to Stiles with a shy smile. “I had a good time today. Thanks.” Before Stiles could respond, Derek leaned in and brushed a kiss over his cheek and hurried out the door and down the hall.

Shaking his head, Stiles watched him go, closing the door once he’d disappeared into the elevator. Turning around, he headed into the kitchen to grab a coffee and some cookies for himself, freezing when he saw the black wolf sitting on the counter, a chocolate rose at his feet, holding down a note scribbled on a piece of paper towel from Stiles’ counter.

_ Thanks for making a hard day a little easier. Hope to see you soon. xx-Derek _

Stiles closed his eyes, letting a single tear escape and roll down his cheek as he picked the wolf up and cuddled it to his face, pressing a kiss to the top of its head. Opening his eyes, he held the wolf up and looked into its eyes. “I think I’m gonna call you Derek,” he said, grinning and grabbing his mug and heading into the living room.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me at josjournal on tumblr!!!!
> 
> Kudos and Comments are food for the writer's soul.


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